1) Embassy walk
2) C&O Canal walk
3) Twilight shots
The amusing part was that I'd actually planned 2) - I'd signed up and everything. However, 1) and 3), as well as a friend, distracted me so much that 2) didn't happen.
How did I do? Not so well. The Embassy walk was uninspiring. I wasn't drawn to anything I saw. I realized later it was because I'd seen all of this before, and my focus was to look for something exciting. Well, it wasn't there.
On the bright side, I continued to walk towards Georgetown and found a good place to take fall shots when the leaves turn.
1) This spot overlooked a nice bridge where the view, at the right time, would be terrific
2) I practiced using my macro lens as a telephoto lens, and decided that perhaps my telephoto lens would be better for this
3) I finally figured out which filters went with which lenses, out of necessity
4) I learned that dropping my fantastic circular polarizer wasn't the end of the world
In all seriousness, the next adventure was the twilight shots. Let's just say that that adventure wasn't a success at all. I was at my friend's place, and took pictures from the balcony. The results required more editing in Aperture than I wanted to do. I later realized that if I'd been 45 to 90 degrees from the sunset, I could have had better results.
It's important to note that I didn't find this a waste of time at all. In fact, it's important to practice for the big moments and the nice shots - like this one that I took last year, which is a little obvious, but at least in my opinion, really pretty:
